Review: Doctor Who: The Kaleidoscope and other releases

It's taken me a little time to get to read and review the new Doctor Who hardback fiction release The Kaleidoscope, but here we go!

It's a fabulous read! Unlike other Doctor Who titles where the work has actually been written by diverse hands, actress Jo Martin seems to have written this herself, and the book is a marvellously written and observed tale, written in a distinctive and engaging style.

For those who may not realise, Martin played a female Doctor on TV in a few stories ('Fugitive of the Judoon', 'The Timeless Children', 'Once, Upon a Time', 'The Power of the Doctor', 'The Story & the Engine' and her incarnation was termed 'the Fugitive Doctor'.

The first thing of note is that the story is told from the point of view of the Doctor herself.  It's unusual that this ever happens. I remember Peter Darvill-Evans, editor of the Virgin range of original novels, saying that it would/should not happen, as the Doctor should be unknowable, and to have him narrating the story would remove the sense of mystery which should permeate a Doctor Who adventure. Nevertheless we commissioned Keith Topping to write a Doctor Who novella narrated by the fourth Doctor for Telos' range of Doctor Who Novellas back in the 2000s (this was Ghost Ship). 

In the case of The Kaleidoscope, what this approach does is add to the richness of the narrative, where, because the story involves the Silence (memory-affecting creatures first enountered by the eleventh Doctor in 'The Impossible Astronaut'), the Doctor herself doesn't remember chunks of her life and the adventure she is on, making it all as much an adventure of discovery for her as for her companion (who in this book is Martha Jones, original companion for the tenth Doctor). There is speculation that the Doctor had again employed a Chameleon Arch (as in 'Fugitive of the Judoon') which is why she can't remember this period of her past.

This playing with memory does, however, make for a challenging read as The Kaleidoscope is itself just part of a fragmented story, Circuit Breaker, told through several media ... the latest of the BBC's multi-media Doctor Who 'events'. Sadly this does not work in its favour, and I would love to see Martin tackle a 'proper' novel without all the baggage and so on which the 'event' brings with it. Plus the story does not end! It just sort of arrives at a cliff hanger, and then you need to try and find the next element (two audio releases from Big Finish) to continue it.

Sadly this sort of thing isn't really my cup of tea, so the overall story that 'Circuit Breaker' is trying to tell will remain unknown to me. Here's a graphic showing the whole Circult Breaker story arc ...

Martin mixes in her own personal heritage, with a visit to Kingston in Jamaica, and lots of cultural elements of food and smells and Jamaican and old African proverbs (which are helpfully listed at the back). This helps provide and underpin the richness of the prose, and makes the book a very adult and mature read - it's all quite wonderful!

If you're a fan of good writing, then this book comes highly recommended. Just don't expect a resolution, and also, as the whole story is about memory and forgetting and the Silence interfering with the Doctor and Martha's memories, it is also somewhat disjointed in the telling - but this is deliberate!

Also arrived from BBC Children's Books is an updated reprint of The Official Doctionary. This is a smaller format hardback and is basically a dictionary of all manner of terms, monsters, aliens and tech which crop up in Doctor Who. As usual it's beautifully illustrated with a multitude of photographs.

The book was originally published in 2012 and written by the late Justin Richards. This new edition has been re-laid out and updated by Justin's son, Julian Richards, with various Whoniverse elements included which have been introduced in the series since then. 

For the young viewer with a passion for the show, this is a great stocking filler!

From BBC Audiobooks we have the latest (and I think the very last) in the range of audio readings of the original range of Target novelisations. This is Doctor Who and the Androids of Tara as written by the great Terrance Dicks. The reader is Geoffrey Beevers and John Leeson is again on hand as the voice of K9.

Finally, Demon Records have another Doctor Who special release for Record Store Day Black Friday. This year it's a vinyl release of The Day of the Troll by Simon Messingham, read by David Tennant. The double record  is released on 27/11/2026 in a 'troll grey' vinyl with the code DEMWHOLP022.

Also recently published is a massive hardback collection of six novelisations which make up The Key to Time series, which include The Androids of Tara. But three of the novelisations are completely new for this volume ... 

Newly written we have 'The Ribos Operation' and 'The Armageddon Factor' by James Goss, and 'The Power of Kroll' by Robert Shearman. Added to this are the more recent novelisations of 'The Stones of Blood' and 'The Androids of Tara' originally written for audio by David Fisher, and adapted for book format by Fisher's son, Nick, and finally another revised version of 'The Pirate Planet' by James Goss.

That's next on my 'to read' list ... and also a paperback release of Robert Shearman's novelisation of the Big Finish Audio Jubilee (the story which became the basis for the TV adventure Dalek.  More about them when I've had a chance to read them!

Review: The Vampire Lestat (2026)

I was aware that Anne Rice's seminal Interview with a Vampire was being made as a series for streaming, but aside from dipping into the first episode, it didn't grip me, and so I drfited away to other things.

Now there's a DVD/BluRay set of the third season, The Vampire Lestat available, and back in the day I read and loved the book when it came out (I never read Interview with a Vampire though) and so as the BluRay publishers were kind enough to send me a copy, I thought it might be time to commit and see what this third series was all about.

Sadly, coming in as a new viewer, with little memory of the book, and none at all of the previous two seasons, it was something of a chore.

The first issue is that across the seven episodes there seems to be little or no actual plot and story. As far as I read and can figure out from elsewhere, the first two series were chronicling the lives of this vampire family as told by Louis, and this story included Lestat. But now Lestat wants to set the record straight and is telling his own story. But it's a mess. It jumps about back and forth in time with no warning, so the viewer has to struggle to keep up ... it's a challenge to remember who is who, and what their relationships are (assuming we are even told them here). Lestat is a rock star, and while I remember the book told how this happened and his rise to fame, he's already famous here, and playing stadiums and so on. But he also seems to be hallucinating seeing other vampires (and I don't know who they are - presumably explained in previous seasons) and generally the episodes roll by with not very much actually happening. Each is titled with a different place, and the provided outline says that Lestat is travelling on tour with his band from city to city, but I'm not sure you'd realise this just from watching it. The last two episodes are far more talkie and it's all very involved and also riffing on The Mayfair Witches, another Anne Rice book and TV series. Episode 6 ends on rather a good cliffhanger though, and the last episode ... just not sure again ... it doesn't seem to really end ... just stops.

There's at one point an auction of Lestat's catalogue of songs and his own memoirs, the paper version of which is burnt in front of the bidders, before a second lot of an audio reading of it all preserved across many, many LP records is also auctioned. These are collectively called 'the Failure' and each episode suggests that the events are as recorded on the records - though it's not at all clear.

One of the other vampires is enamoured with a young waitress who seems to be the spitting image of yet another vampire, Claudia, there's some flashback (I think) stuff in episode 5 with two stone vampires who are returned to life (I understand these are the original vampires or something) and the female of which (Akasha) bites Lestat and makes him fly. 

Key information is often given once in throwaway dialogue, and so unless you're listening and watching intently (and have a good memory), it's easy to miss or forget or just not realise it's important until two episodes time when you've forgotten it anyway!

What I can say is that the music is very good indeed. From the opening titles which have a very Sweet-like vibe (there's a riff in there very similar to 'Blockbuster' - see what you think!), the tracks are well performed and sung (it seems to be the actor singing them - Sam Reid). Visually it's lovely, with great performances and the vampires with their strange golden eyes are bewitching and interesting ... 

Sam Reid is obviously having a great time playing Lestat, and he's visually stunning and very watchable - bags of charisma and talent there! It's worth watching for his rich performance alone. The other characters also seem well played and acted. All that's missing is a script with a plot for them to work against.

It's obvious that to really enjoy Season 3 of this show, you have to have seen the first two seasons: and while there is also a box-set of all three seasons available, this wasn't available for review. So I'm sorry if you're a massive fan and I've missed out because I've not seen the earlier seasons ... but I'm reviewing based on what I was sent ... As a stand alone, season 3 is inaccessible.

So for me, the series is probably Marmite - some will love it for the visual spectacle and characters and excess, while others, like myself, who prefer an actual story and plot progression through the episodes (and some sort of ending), may be disappointed.

Review: Tales of the TARDIS and Doctor Who: TARDIS Crew

The latest in BBC Children's Books' range of hardback story collections, Tales of the TARDIS takes the recent 'Memory TARDIS' presentations of older stories as an inspiration, and brings together a selection of more 'memory' stories, each bookended with a short prologue and epilogue set in the memory TARDIS.

It's quite a star-studded line-up here with the following contributing the Prologues and Epilogues to a variety of stories: actors Carole Ann Ford (with Rob Craine), Sophie Aldred, Peter Davison, Mandip Gill and Katy Manning, along with series writers Robert Shearman and Inua Ellams, and also Miles Taylor who portrays the eleventh Doctor in the Big Finish audio dramas. Beth Axford is the author of the actual stories.

There are eight stories presented, and they're all fairly entertaining, with each of them showing an event which seems to resonate with the Doctor/Companion pairing in each case. There's the usual clutch of continuity references too, but none of them grate, and I can see this being an ideal book to read to a younger Doctor Who fan at Christmas. The BBC has a new CBeebies Doctor Who: TARDIS Crew cartoon show coming up around Christmas 2027, so I expect that there will be a paperback of this and perhaps other books tying in with that show at that time. Aside from perhaps needing to explain a little more about who these different Doctors are each time, the stories seem complete and need little more to make them 'work'.

What is interesting is the shift in tone between the earlier Doctors' adventures, and those of the 13th and especially the 15th Doctors. The early ones tend to be more traditional science fiction ideas, and rooted in 'reality' wheras the 13th and 15th are far more whimsical and 'magic' based adventures - the sort of stories you used to find in the Doctor Who Annuals or TV Comic - ones where you're not sure if the author or artist had ever actually seen the show!

Overall I enjoyed the collection, and with the BBC apparently now firmly aiming Doctor Who at pre-schoolers, perhaps books like those that BBC Children's Books have been publishing for the last few years are what's needed to cement an early interest in the show.

Tales of the TARDIS is published on October 22 from BBC Children's Books.

DOCTOR WHO: TARDIS CREW

As I was reading this book, the BBC announced the first CBeebies cartoon show.  Doctor Who and Crew as follows:

The TARDIS is set to welcome aboard a whole new generation of fans in an exciting new animated series...

BBC Children's and Education has unveiled a first look at Doctor Who: TARDIS Crew, a brand-new animated preschool series that introduces younger audiences to the wonder, adventure and endless possibilities of the Whoniverse. 

Created for CBeebies viewers, the series follows the Doctor, a young Time Lord, and his friends Hannah, Beastie and Toast-IE as they embark on extraordinary adventures through time and space. Travelling aboard the iconic TARDIS, they encounter incredible creatures, discover amazing new worlds and come face-to-face with legendary Doctor Who foes, including the Daleks. 

Bursting with imagination, humour and adventure, Doctor Who: TARDIS Crew brings the excitement of the Whoniverse to a new generation of fans. Through action-packed, preschool-friendly stories, the series celebrates curiosity, courage and kindness, encouraging young viewers to explore new ideas, solve problems and embrace the unexpected. 

Across 52 eleven-minute episodes, families will join the TARDIS Crew on unforgettable journeys where friendship, teamwork and quick thinking can change everything. Blending the wonder and excitement of Doctor Who with the trusted storytelling and learning through play values of CBeebies, the series is set to introduce a whole new generation to one of the world's most iconic brands. Produced by Blue Zoo Animation Studio, the series is currently in production, with Dominic Minns serving as Series Director. Minns previously directed acclaimed CBeebies series including Mojo Swoptops and Supertato. 

Kate Morton, Senior Head of Commissioning for CBeebies, said: "The TARDIS is ready for its youngest crew yet. Packed with imagination, humour and adventure, Doctor Who: TARDIS Crew will inspire children to be curious, courageous and kind as they explore incredible worlds across time and space. It's everything families love about Doctor Who, wonder, excitement and endless possibility, reimagined for CBeebies' youngest explorers."

Doctor Who: TARDIS Crew will arrive on CBeebies and BBC iPlayer in late 2027/early 2028.

And here's some pics from the show!  

I have no idea why the TARDIS in that last picture with the title lettering (which is from the promotional video for the show) has the words:

    DOROS WOOOD TADS

Written across the top ... rather than the more usual

    POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX

Maybe it's an AI glitch on the animation. The Daleks look cute though.

EDITED TO ADD: Since I posted this, it has been pointed out that the 'promotional video' was a fan made one, not official at all, and the picture of the two characters high fiving each other also. I'm leaving them in this post as it's an interesting wrinkle, and I'm sure they were on the BBC site!  But maybe not ... so the only official element released is the first picture and the one of the TARDIS in space (which is actually an element from the first picture).

 

Review: The Terror: Devil in Silver: Season 3 (2026)

The Terror is a series of limited series developed for AMC. I was first aware of it as the first season adapted Dan Simmons' novel The Terror, but since that found success, they have developed the show so that each season covers a different story with different cast.  This is a similar-ish approach to shows like American Horror Story and Scream Queens where each season has a different plot but in those cases uses the same cast.

Season 3 of The Terror is based on the novel The Devil in Silver by Victor Lavell, and is six episodes long. This is a benefit because unlike many 'limited series' it doesn't outstay its welcome and does not need padding to make up the length, issues which often plague this format, making the shows drag and end up being a chore to get through four or five episodes of plot expanded out to ten or twelve episodes.

The plot follows Pepper (the always excellent Dan Stevens) who is arrested by police after a fight and thrown into a mental asylum, the New Hyde Hospital, rather than just being charged. The hospital staff immediately drug him and he finds that the other residents there are likewise drugged and have been there for a long time.

There's something creepy going on there too, with people hearing voices and having visions of nocturnal vistations ... plus there is a mysterious silver locked door ... which no-one must enter ... it's all very well done, creepy, and well played.

When the revelations start to come, they're well developed, and we discover what is really happening here, and what lengths the 'management' are going to in order to keep their secrets and to keep whatever the strange entity is happy.

I won't give it all away here, as the show is worth watching, and as it's only six episodes, is an excellent binge-worthy watch for Halloween!

The entire season is now available on blu-ray from Acorn Media International, and Seasons 1 and 2 are also available. The blu-ray also contains a very short behind the scenes documentary and a photo gallery.

Review: Colony (2026)

Train to Busan was one of the standout zombie films of recent years, and so I was excited to see that the director Yeon Sang-ho had a new film coming called Colony.

Now it has arrived, and I experienced it on a 4K UltraHD Blu-Ray! It doesn't disappoint.

Written by Yeon Sang-ho with Choi Gyu-seok, the film charts a zombie outbreak in a shopping/hotel/conference building, and so has similar vibes to Train to Busan which places the protagonists and the zombies in a limited location from which they cannot escape.

We follow a small group who find themselves initially trapped in a shopping mall when the outbreak hits. The set up is perhaps just best stolen from the Wiki as it's complex:

Scientist Seo Yeong Chul (Koo Kyo-hwan) warns the police that he will launch a bio-terrorist attack at the Dongwoo-ri Building, then injects himself with the supposed vaccine to his mutated slime mold bioweapon. Meanwhile, Chains Bio is holding a presentation in the building, where CEO Kang Woo-chul demonstrates the slime mold's cell-regeneration capabilities. Kwon Se-jeong (Jun Ji-hyun), an ostracised and unemployed professor, attends after being invited by the company, hoping to secure a job through her ex-husband Han Gyu-sung (Go Soo), who is preparing to emigrate overseas. Security guard Choi Hyun-seok (Ji Chang-wook) is also at the building with his mobility-impaired older sister, Hyun-hee (Kim Shin-rok).

Thus Kang Woo-chul is infected by Seo Young-chul and the outbreak spreads rapidly. The infected initially are animalistic, running on all fours and attacking anything which seems human: including photographs and shop dummies. But they learn, and have a hive mind in that what one discovers is rapidly transmitted to all the other zombies, so they get clever, and track, and slowly our intrepid band of surviving humans is whittled down.  In this sort of film, even the nice people die!

What I liked about it, as with Train to Busan, is that the film is clever. It presents intelligent situations and the development of the zombie infection is well worked out. There are shocks and scares aplenty, and the performances are superb, both from the humans, to the infected. These films seem to have nailed the jerky infection progress and the physical element is just terrifying to watch.

If you're a fan of the zombie genre, then this film is not to be missed. It's exciting and well done, brilliantly performed, and most importantly original. A truly excellent entry in the zombie genre.

New Doctor Who Book Reviews (September 2026)

Another roundup of some Doctor Who titles recently published ... as usual there are a fair few coming through, and so without further ado ...

On top of the teetering pile is a paperback edition of The Adventures Before ... the idea here is to present short stories based before some popular Doctor Who stories ... and as discussed in my review of the hardback (https://howeswho.blogspot.com/2024/11/review-doctor-who-annual-whodle.html) I found the book disappointing overall. The paperback adds a new story to the mix, 'The Night of the Shreek' by Pete McTighe, in which Ruby and the 15th Doctor first meet a Shreek, preluding the events of 'Lucky Day'. The story was actually first published in the official 2026 Doctor Who Annual, released in 2025.

Another paperback edition with a new story included, is Time Lord Fairy Tales the hardback of which hails from 2015, and which was written by Justin Richards. I didn't review this at the time, but the content is as it says on the cover: various fairy stories are retold with Doctor Who monsters included ... they're nicely written, and as with all the BBC Children's Books fare, aimed at younger children. The new story is 'The Doctor and the Three Witches' by Janelle McCurdy and involves the three Carrionites from the story 'The Shakespeare Code' in a fairy tale interlude with Martha and a female Doctor (maybe the 13th? It's not specific), the UNIT Black Archive and Osgood ... a mixed bag!

Not a book, but a rather lovely magazine is next. Museum Guide Book: The Classic Doctor Who Collection is a publication from Neil Cole at the Museum of Classic Sci-Fi. Intended as a guide to the Doctor Who props, costumes and ephemera collected by Neil for his museum, the 48 page guide lavishly pictures the items, along with some text explaining the context and how the museum comes to have the items. I love this sort of publication, with items from the first four Doctors all rubbing shoulders. So there are some negatives and prints from 'The Keys of Marinus', a camera script from 'Planet of Giants' and a script from 'The Savages', alongside a Gundan Robot from 'Warriors' Gate' and Target cover roughs and BBC cover roughs from artist Andrew Skilleter. An impressive collection.

The idea is that visitors to the museum can buy the guidebook, so I'm not sure how available it is outside of actually visiting the museum, but if you are in the Hexam/Allendale area (postcode area NE47), then the Museum is well worth a visit.

Next up is an 'annual'-styled special from the Doctor Who Appreciation Society. Doctor Who 70-79 is a celebration of the seventies period of Doctor Who and also marks 50 years of the DWAS.

We have interviews with Caroline John and Mary Tamm alongside many pieces exploring different aspects of the series. Contributors include Dale Smith, Matt Hills, Simon Guerrier, Tony Jordan, Jeremy Bentham, Paul Scoones, Jon Preddle, Keith Barnfather and Dez Skinn. Edited by Bruce Nicholson and designed by Paul M C Smith, the book is full of colour photographs and is very pleasing to the eye. Unlike the official BBC fare, it also majors on the written content, rather than the photographs, and thus is more suited for the older fan. The book is available from Lulu, priced at a very reasonable £16.00. https://www.lulu.com/shop/paul-smith-and-bruce-nicholson/doctor-who-70-79/hardcover/product-m2evrqj.html

From BBC Books comes the regular Doctor Who Annual for 2027. As there is no Doctor Who on television at this time, the publisher and editor (Paul Lang) have decided to make this a sort of 'best of'. I guess they have pared down on original material by reprinting material from past annuals, but this cost saving means they can increase the page count, so it's 126 pages long. This approach actually works really well, and the book provides a whistlestop tour of the last 20 years or so of Doctor Who. The earlier Doctors get a brief look in too, and all told it's a bright and lively race through the show, and something that would be sure to keep a youngster occupied for Christmas Day ... I like the inclusion of a 'Where's the Doctor' spread, the short stories and comic strips ... all keeping it exciting and interesting for someone new to the series.

With the uncertainty over the future of high street chains like W H Smith/T G Jones at the moment, one does wonder if the end of the Annual may be upon us. I hope they can find a format which continues to excite, and more importantly sell copies, for next year and beyond.

Finally, a vast doorstep of a book from Wonderful Books. This is Screen Printed, a 550 page updated print version of a previously free PDF book looking in detail at the old Target Doctor Who novelisations. Unlike my own The Target Book which focussed more on the behind the scenes development of the range, as well as looking at the cover art, this is focussing on the books themselves, seeking to pin down all the reprints, cover variants and so on through the years, using what information is available. It's a fascinating piece of work and is really invaluable to collectors of the books. Especially of interest are all the associated uses of the artwork, and details of where it has been displayed over the years.

I assume that author Paul M C Smith has decided to make this available at this time, as BBC Audiobooks have just completed their run of audios of all the original Target books, making this a good place to position it. It's also up to date to the 2026 set of books (Aliens of London, The Satan Pit and The Time of Angels).

Hopefully any future additions will be made available as add-on PDFs, as the book is too expensive to keep buying updated copies of!

The book costs £36.87 and is available from Lulu (https://www.lulu.com/shop/paul-mc-smith/screen-printed/hardcover/product-dy4w549.html)

Review: Harbinger (2026)

Low budget filmmaking can produce some impressive results, and there's a lot about this new horror from Shogun films to enjoy.

Released on blu-ray by 101 Films, Harbinger is one of those 'group of people get slaughtered in a house' type films, but they have added an original twist that the killings are being carried out by a possessed arcade machine called 'Harbinger', a variation on the Zoltar seaside 'tell your fortune' machines. 

Thus a group of documentary film makers descend on the house in which Julia (Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott) lived and was attacked five years previously by a serial killer Henry Decker (Peter Woodward). They bring Julia with them and intend to make a new episode of their series Spectre Investigates, fronted by Mike Craggs (Gary Webster). There to capture the proceedings are the sound girl April (Maisey Gee), her boyfriend cameraman Barney (Joseph Emms), make-up girl Kathryn (Anna Arthur), who Barney has been sleeping with and who has got pregnant, a supernatural expert Chris (Johnny Palmiero), and psychic Neil (Tony Sands). However the Harbinger machine doles out some tarot-like cards to each of them, and soon they realise that the figure in the machine is out to get them!

The film has a lot going for it. There's some smashing cinematograpy and drone work, some great colour palates inside the house (very inspired by Italian Giallo, and Dario Argento's film Suspiria in particular), and some great performances from the majority of the cast.

Where the film is let down is in the choice of the leading lady, and the script. Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott is sadly weak in the role. Her scenes fall flat and it's a struggle to believe in her as Julia. This is just thrown into contrast by the rest of the cast who are universally excellent, and I wished one of them had ended up as being the 'final girl' here rather than Julia.

On the script front, the biggest issue for me was that the tarot cards given by the machine should have been predictors of how these people would meet their ends ... but while some hint at it, others seem to have no bearing at all. In a film of this type, where the whole 'point' is the killings, they should have been far more imaginative and clever ... far more like the sort of deaths presented in the Italian Giallos which this film tries (and mostly succeeds) in matching for visual style and flair. It's a shame that the stalking Harbinger figure seems to just resort to mostly strangling people and killing them with a knife.

There's some material in here which doesn't make a lot of sense. For example, if this house belonged to Julia, then why leave a valuable painting on the wall? She takes the 'job' with the film crew to earn some much-needed money to help her aged mother (an excellent scene with veteran actress Carole Ann Ford holding her own) - but why do that if there was money tied up in the old house which she obviously doesn't live in any more. I was also puzzled by the whole sequence of the young girl in the bath with the mask on ... it seemed out of place. The film also drags in places, which with six killings to execute (sorry) and only 90 minutes to do it all in, is something of an issue.

Overall Harbinger was enjoyable, but sadly the choice of lead makes it a harder watch and a lot less fun and action packed than it could have been.